


Swords and Blasters may Scratch my Scales

by hinatatheannoyingorange



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Halp I can't tag, Homesick Lance (Voltron), I will make that a tag., Insecure Lance (Voltron), LANCE EVERYTHING, Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron)-centric, Sea Creature Lance (Voltron), Sea Monsters, Singing Lance (Voltron), Sus Lance (Voltron), Voltron is sussing Lance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-24
Updated: 2020-10-24
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:42:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27171244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hinatatheannoyingorange/pseuds/hinatatheannoyingorange
Summary: When Lance was born, he wasn’t born a human. Sure his family lived on Earth, but the McClains wouldn’t call fins and scales a human thing.
Relationships: Allura & Coran & Hunk & Keith & Lance & Pidge | Katie Holt & Shiro, Hunk & Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 119





	Swords and Blasters may Scratch my Scales

**Author's Note:**

> (A.N.: The art in this story was drawn by me!)

When Lance was born, he wasn’t born a human. Sure his family lived on Earth, but the McClains wouldn’t call fins and scales a human thing.

Each member of the McClain family has a different color of scales and fins. Lance’s twin, Rachel, has elegant rose-pink scales with lavender tinted fins that were rounded and soft. Veronica, Lance’s older sister, has beautiful purple scales with indigo fins. Veronica’s tail fins were sharp and precise, if they weren’t floppy, you’d think they would cut you like a knife. Lance’s father has very different scales compared to Veronica and Rachel. The angles of his fins were sharp, like daggers and the color was a stark red, like blood running through the water. Like her daughters, Lance’s mother had very flowing, water like fins. When she would swim, she would almost become the water around her, her soft fins were a beautiful sea-foam color and her scales would blend into the water around her.

Compared to his father, Lance’s fins were very feminine, something his sisters teased him relentlessly for. His fins are a beautiful, soft seaweed green color that brought out the blue in his eyes and in his scales. Lance’s eyes were a deep ocean blue like the depths of the ocean, as unknown as it is captivating.

When each member of the McClain family turns 6, they are given their family’s sigil on the apex of their left elbow, a band that binds them to their family.

Even when Lance was accepted into the Galaxy Garrison, his mother had reminded him.

 _“Now, Alejandro. Even when you fly to the stars and can recognize galaxies like the back of your hand, know that the water is your home, and you will always be welcome where the water takes you.”_ She had said. That day, she gave Lance a bracelet, once that would allow him to transform his tail into his human legs without hindrance. She had also given him a small vial on a chain. She said, _“Keep this with you. It is the water of the beach of Varadero. Carry it and remember that even if you are not here at the water’s edge, home is with you.”_

It was almost like his mother had known that he would end up here.

Lance sighed, leaning back against the pillows of his space room.

_Maybe one day I’ll see you again…_

  
  
  


“PALADINS! We are under attack! Be ready to form Voltron in 60 ticks!” Allura’s voice rang through the air, shocking Lance out of bed and into his armor at rapid speed.

 _Why the quiznack does the Galra have to attack at crack-o’clock in the morning?!_ Lance inwardly groaned, slamming his hand on the door pad and sprinting out of his room, not bothering to wait for the door to close back up.

He ran to Blue’s hangar, the doors opening at his arrival and her particle barrier dropping. Lance smirked and ran towards Blue as her head bowed and her mouth opened. Once he was inside, Blue closed her jaw and Lance made his way to the cockpit.

“Good morning to you too, beautiful.” He said, sitting in the pilot’s seat and prepping the controls. “You ready to fly?” A mental nod in Lance’s mind urged him to open the bay doors and launch them into battle.

But once Lance opened the bay doors, he was only met with the face of a planet. No gunfire, no cruisers, just… no Galra.

“Well done, paladins! You managed to be ready for battle in only 57 ticks!”

_What…?_

“Please bring your lions back to your hangars and rendezvous in the training deck in 15 doboshes, we will be having a training day.”

 _Well quiznack. It’s one of those days…_ Lance thought, slumping in his seat as he and Blue returned to the castle ship.

“Sorry, Blue… I have a feeling I won’t be able to take you flying today.” Lance sighed, hopping out of the cockpit and into the hanger once again, removing his helmet and letting his unruly hair free.

 _What am I supposed to do for 15 minutes…?_ Lance thought, making his way to his room. _I mean, I could take a bath? Yeah.. a bath sounds nice._ He smiled softly and placed his hand on his door pad, albeit much gentler than before, and entering the threshold. Lance immediately closed the door and started running the water. He stripped himself of his armor, removed his inner-bodysuit and boxers, and stepped into the bath, letting his body absorb the water, his legs tingling with a familiar sensation. A few seconds later, Lance’s human legs transformed into a familiar fish tail, his fin hanging slightly out of the bath.

“Ahh...” Lance sighed, leaning back into the bath and submerging more of his shoulders into the warm water.

He laid in the bath for what felt like hours, just sopping in the moisture and feeling his element, before it was time to get ready again.

When the training time neared closer, Lance transformed his legs back using his bracelet and dressed in his casual attire, his baseball jacket and skinny jeans, paired with his space sneakers. He checked to see if he had his bracelet, then swiftly left his room, jogging down to the training deck.

“LANCE.”

Said boy yelped, jumping nearly a foot up into the air.

“U-Uh yes, Princess…?”

“You’re…. early. Please take a seat on the floor, we will begin shortly.” Allura gaped in disbelief.

Lance blinked away his confusion and sat on the floor.

 _I wonder what Rachel would think if she knew where I was… Man she’d be so pissed…_ Lance pondered, pulling his legs up to his chest and resting his chin on his knees.

“Alright, let’s start the mind meld exercise! Please sit down in a circle on the floor, Coran and I will pass out the headbands.”

Lance hadn’t noticed when the others had arrived, but surely enough, Hunk and Pidge were at his sides, Shiro and Keith beside each other sat directly across from him.

When Coran walked behind the Garrison trio, they each grabbed their own headband and, albeit hesitantly, placed them on their heads, the Broganes™ following suite.

“Great! Now think of something very important to you, and don’t forget any details!” Coran instructed cheerfully, playing with his mustache. _Okay… I can do that._ Lance thought, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

_The sand squishing softly beneath his feet, the warm water rising up until it encompassed Lance’s entire being. His legs fusing to form a familiar blue scaled tail, the green fins growing from the scales, all the while Lance hummed his melody._

“Excellent, paladins! Now form Voltron!”

Lance swallowed harshly, as he forced away all thoughts about his family and his origin. He formed his lion and forced it forward, apologizing mentally to Blue. Everyone was poking around in each others’ heads for a while, and as much as Lance didn’t appreciate it, he tolerated it.

Eventually, all lions had been formed and they met Blue in the center… until-

“This is stupid.” Pidge groaned, laying down and chucking their headband to the ground behind them.

“Pidge-”

“Nope, not happening.” They huffed, crossing their arms.

“Perhaps,” Coran stepped in between the two. “-a break would be beneficial…?”

A series of grunts and affirmatives led the paladins to having a ‘snack session’ on the training deck floor, much to Allura’s discretion.

“Ugh.. on the topic of breaks, I have decided it would be fair to say that we deserve one after all of the fighting we have done recently.”

“Oh thank fuck.”

“Pidge. Language.”

“Fine. Oh thank _quiznack._ ” An audible facepalm was heard from Shiro and the paladins chuckled.

“Um Allura? Where would we be going?” Hunk asked.

“We would be stopping by an auction in a nearby system.”

“Is that really a good idea, Princess?” Shiro got up from his spot on the floor and approached the Princess.

“Whatever do you mean, Shiro?”

“Well… when we went to a space mall...”

“Surely nothing could go as wrong as that.”

Lance grinned, showing off his pointy shark teeth.

“Challenge accepted, Princess.”

  
  
  


One their pod landed on the surface of the planet, the paladins scattered, each running in a different direction.

Lance ran off to the section where he heard the most music. Alien music was very different compared to Earthen music, and Lance was curious to learn more.

“Uh, excuse me?” Lance called out, a nearby alien turning to greet him.

“Hello there, buddy! I’ve never seen such a weird looking species like yourself!” The alien chuckled, pointing a finger to Lance’s face.

“T-Thank you? I was wondering if you could tell me where that music was coming from.”

“Ah. The Bagterkovs are back, are they? I can’t hear well myself. They usually set themselves up around the back of the auction. They play well, don’tcha think?” The alien grinned, revealing a set of very sharp looking teeth.

“Yeah! Thank you so much!” Lance thanked the stranger and ran deeper into the tented area.

 _This place makes me think of a flea market… It’s not half bad!_ The cuban teen smirked, looking at all of the different items being displayed at different stalls.

After a bit of guesswork and asking around, Lance found his way to the Bagterkovs as the other alien had called them.

They were a beautiful species, Lance could say that much. They each had a different color of fur, their eyes similar to that of a cat only with a black sclera. Their ears looked feline only… different. Some of them had horns and others had tails with a spade-like tip. Lance didn’t realize he was staring until one of them cleared their throat.

“Can I help you?” They asked, and Lance almost mistook their instrument for a spear, javelin or, pun intended, a lance.

“H-Hey. I was wondering if there was a place around here that I could buy an instrument… Y’know, an object that makes noise by plucking strings…?”

“Ah… you seek a magxucar. There are several different types of magxucars, the one I play is a gorglesnaw, Corzap plays a yurblekey and Haquevo is our wajube.”

_Yeah… Okay._

“It it alright if I try one of your… ma-magxuc-cars..?”

The alien nodded and handed over their gorglesnaw.

“My name is Yaayzorg.”

“And I’m Lance! Nice to meet you, Yaay.”

“..What is a ‘Yaay..?’”

Lance smiled, taking the gorglesnaw and plucking the strings. 

“It’s a nickname, i-is that okay…?”

“Absolutely! I’ve never had a ‘nickname’ before!”

Lance breathed a sigh of relief and turned his attention to the instrument in his hands.

“The gorglesnaw is formed using the bone of a water-snicker and the hairs of a nigglespang. Each hair can be tuned to any pitch using these screws. You needn’t worry about it breaking. The nigglespang hairs are nearly indestructible once they’ve been plucked, and the water-snicker bone is especially strong.”

“Wow…” Lance’s eyes sparkled with excitement as his hands wandered the surface of the instrument.

After a bit of experimentation, the gorglesnaw seemed to be similar to a guitar or ukulele. The gorglesnaw had 5 strings and could be tuned to sound nearly _identical_ to an Earthen guitar.

“U-Um… where could I buy a gorglenaw…?” Lance asked, passing the gorglesnaw back to Yaay.

“Most venders who sell magxucars sell primarily gorglesnaws, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find one around here! Try and find a vender named Elzaq, he made my gorglesnaw and he’ll give you a discount if you tell him Yaayzorg sent ya’!”

“Thank you so much, Yaay! You’re a real lifesaver!” Lance cheered as he ran through the auction, looking for stalls that have gorglesnaws, all the while calling out for an alien named Elzaq.

“Yes, child? I could hear you yapping for me from the other side of the market.”

Lance’s head whipped around to be met with a shorter alien, with black hair braided down the back of their head. They had an alien equivalent of glasses sitting on the bridge of their nose and had a cane to support their weight. They seemed to be an older alien.

“A-Ah, sorry about that! My name is Lance, I was sent to find a man named Elzaq by Yaayzorg, they said that you could sell me a gorglesnaw. I’m assuming that’s you..?” Lance asked hesitantly, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

“That is correct, Lance.” The alien nodded and smiled, walking off towards where his booth might be. Lance had no clue. “I sell many different varieties of gorglesnaws. The one I made for Yaayzorg was custom made. You seem like a kind man, so I would be happy to make one for you. Yaayzorg was never one to make friends, so I am grateful that you were able to befriend her.”

If the sentiment hadn’t put a smile on Lance’s face, he didn’t know what would.

The alien led Lance to a smaller booth, more secluded from the others, one that was filled with a variety of gorglesnaws.

“Over here,” Lance hurried to Elzaq’s side. “-are the different colors of the water-snicker bone. They all retain the same quality and durability, so please feel free to choose any color you like.” Elzaq smiled, and Lance stepped up to the table, looking at each of the different bones. They each told their _own_ story.

One of the bones was a color that reminded Lance of the hard yellow coral back on Earth, only its surface shimmered when it was touched, and there were small indentations throughout it.

Another one of the bones was an odd green palar, it’s sides almost soft and fluffy, like an animal hide.

And the one Lance chose?

It was a beautiful, sickly red color. One that reminded Lance of the blood that would seep through the warm tropical waters as Lance ripped the throats of wandering sailors.

“I like this one.” Lance picked up the bone, and he almost dropped it, the bone was excruciatingly hot to the touch, and Elzaq used a pair of padded tweezers to pick it up and bring it to the work table.

“The species of water-snicker that this bone came from was from one of the hottest moons in the local lightyear. It was feisty and was strong to its core.” Elzaq explained, grabbing a pair of alien goggles and a screwdriver. This alien vaguely reminded Lance of Coran… Both very wise people. As Elzaq continued working on the gorglesnaw, he resumed his lecture.

“Water-snickers are creatures with the ability to heat or cool the water around them to an unbearable degree, and are able to withstand those temperatures. We call them water- _snickers_ because when they manage to catch prey using these techniques, you could almost hear them laughing. They sing their own praises, and we can choose to sing along.”

Lance felt like he couldn’t breathe in the presence of the beautiful instrument, its ‘hairs’ were soft and velvety, attached securely to the tip of the bone.

“U-Um… Do you by chance have cases to hold the gorglesnaws? And is there something specific I should use to play it..?”

“Ah yes. I’d nearly forgotten.”

Elzaq turned his back on Lance to fetch a case, one that looked similar to an Earthen shoe box, only with a strap to carry it upright on your shoulder.

“I hope you take good care of your gorglesnaw, and be sure to make beautiful music with it.” Elzaq’s eyes crinkled, and Lance took to looking the alien in the eye.

“T-Thank you so much...” The human lurched forward and hugged the alien.

  
  
  


_Now…_ Lance waved goodbye to Elzaq and left the booth. _Where could Hunk be?_

And as if his calls had been answered, he saw Hunk, taste testing different alien dishes at a booth, hopefully for free and not getting himself enslaved again.

“Hunk!” Lance yelled, pushing his way through the going crowd of aliens to attach himself to his best friend’s arm.

“Hey La- Um Lance..?”

“I missed you buddy!” Lance began to rub his cheek against the arm he’d captured.

“B-But Lance?”

“I didn’t know if I was ever going to find you!”

“LANCE!”

The cuban boy startled and looked up at Hunk, ...or who he thought was Hunk.

“O-Oh… Hehehe sorry sir-urm-ma’am…?” Lance backed off and his back stuck to his shirt with sweat.

“We should run...” Hunk whispered when he saw the look in the stranger’s eye.

“Y-Yeah… BYE!” Lance yelled, running back down the line of booths, not daring enough to steal a glance behind him.

  
  
  


“So what did you guys do?” Pidge interrogated them, refusing to answer any and all questions about the massive bag she was carrying around. The bag was literally twice her size.

“I was checking out the throwing knives. I’m upset we’re broke, I would’ve bought all of them.” Keith stared longingly at the auction.

“Yeah… Too bad there wasn’t a GAC fountain here...” Hunk moaned, hanging his head. 

“What about you, Shiro?” Pidge asked, turning to the black paladin.

“I didn’t leave the pod? I just guarded the pod just in-”

“BOR-ING, Lance, what’d you get?”

“N-Nothing!” Lance stuttered.

He would never admit it, but Lance was _terrible_ at social confrontation, whether it was an argument or an offer for garlic knots, Lance could never rely on his voice. So when Lance was accepted into the Galaxy Garrison, he knew that he would have to fix his problem. He was just too damn nervous about his possible exploitation.

“Really? Because I see a box on your back! And it’s screaming, _‘open me~!’_ ”

“N-NO! STAY AWAY, YOU _GREMLIN!_ ”

And if Lance spent the next day hiding from Pidge, no one had to know.

Much to Lance’s dismay, he wasn’t able to play his gorglesnaw as soon as he’d hoped. The team had been swamped with various rescue, espionage and tactile missions throughout the next few days and Lance hadn’t been given a chance to even _unbox_ his gorglesnaw.

Until today.

Allura had graciously given the paladins a break from training.

A break from feeling like death.

So Lance didn’t hesitate to take a bath, showering his fin in warm suds and scrubbing out the scales he had shed.

After he’d had felt clean enough to leave the bath, Lance dried off and used his bracelet to transform his tail back to his legs, dressing in his skinny jeans and blue baseball tee-shirt. Lance picked the case he’d been staring at, carrying it like he would a child, cradling it with utmost care as he traveled to the observation deck.

Lance loved the observation deck, as much as he hated his homesickness. Staring at the infinite universe through the glass felt like a fever dream, and Lance soaked it up like a sponge.

The boy sat against the glass and smiled to himself as he opened the case, revealing the gorglesnaw in all its glory. He propped the instrument against his chest and plucked the hairs delicately, tuning the instrument with little trouble. Lance strummed the gorglesnaw and hummed along as he took the reins of his new instrument.

Lance stopped for a moment and took a deep breath.

 _“Chasin’ the sunset, headed west.. Leavin’ behind a girl… Think it’s for the best.”_ He paused and began playing the gorglesnaw with practiced ease. 

_“Tryin’ to forget, what a mess... Feelin’ my forehead burn, feel her in my chest..”_ Lance tried to keep his thoughts at bay as he drowned himself in his melody. 

_“Cause she was someone, who loves the city, more than she could ever love me… And she was what I- thought was missing… She misses everything but me...”_ Lance let a tear run down his cheek as the words bore into his heart, choosing to ignore how his legs and feet began to glow a brilliant blue. _“I’m a mile high, but I’ve never felt so low… So now I’m, lookin’ out the window.. at the night sky, and the clouds below… Wish you were mine, but you’ll never know...”_

He strums at the gorglesnaw’s hairs with more raw emotion, the pace picking up as his legs begin to fuse. 

_“Flight attendant gives me a water… says that I don’t look too well, do I need a doctor…? ‘I’ll be fine, ma’am..’ I smile and say... ‘But could you ask the pilot to turn around the plane-’”_

“..What the fuck?”

Lance jolted back with a shout, his newly formed tail whipping wildly in his panic.

_Keith._

“W-W-Wha-” Lance’s mouth gaped like a fish as he scooted further away. “K-Keith, stay away!” Lance yelped as Keith stepped closer, pulling his blade free of its sheath.

“Who are you and where is Lance?”

“W-Wu… I-I-”

“Keeeef… Have you found Lance ye-”

“Pidge, you know he doesn’t-... what the...?”

_Hunk. Pidge._

“WHAT THE FUCK?!”

“P-Pidge, wait!”

“WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!”

“Language, Katie! Why are we yelling?!”

_Shiro._

“Shiro! There’s an imposter on the ship! Lance is missing!”

“Hold on! Calm down, what do you mean Lance is missing!?”

Keith and Pidge both pointed towards the imposter Lance, who was really the real Lance, and Shiro’s eyes widened before he bolted towards Lance.

“P-Please! Just _let me explain!_ ” Lance screamed, tears bursting out of his eyes and running freely down his tanned cheeks.

But Shiro paid him no mind, Hunk aiding in restraining Lance and dragging him out of the doors of the observation deck, ignoring Lance’s tears leaving his gorglesnaw abandoned by the window.

  
  
  


“LANCE?!”

“No, not Lance. It’s an imposter, Lance is _human.”_

Lance felt his chest squeeze at the words, looking down at his fin.

“...You’re wrong…” All heads in the medbay turned to ‘Lance,’ who still refused to look at them. “I-I can prove it.” ‘Lance’ looked up from the floor and stared at Shiro. “Ask me a question only I could answer.”

“A-Allura… We seem to have a serum in storage capable of forcing creatures to speak only the truth… Should I-”

“Do it, Coran.”

“Yes, Princess! Right away!” Coran gave a mock salute, sprinting out of the medbay.

Pidge scoffed, placing her hands on her hips. “You’re still persistent… Still though, how do we know you’re Lance? I don’t think Lance has a mermaid tail.”

“Save your questions, we can’t trust anything it says.” Shiro’s gaze hardens.

“B-But… How do we know that this isn’t Lance…? W-What if I accidentally gave him something that turned him into a… a...”

“A _freak?”_

This time, Lance doesn’t try to hold back his trills and whimpers as his tears continue to fall and he pushes his face impossibly closer into his fin.

“Back with the solvent, Princess!” Coran yells, bursting through the medbay doors once again and readying a syringe with the serum.

After a few, _very tense_ seconds, Coran stepped up to Lance and injected the serum into his neck. It took nearly no time at all for it to take effect.

“Alright! The serum should be in effect now. Feel free to ask away, number 5!” Coran messed with his mustache as Pidge stepped up to Lance.

“Okay. Start easy… What is your name?”

“My name is Alejandro McClain. My family and my friends call me Lance.”

“Where are you from…?”

“My family and I live in Cuba on planet Earth.”

There was a collective sigh of relief amongst the paladins and Shiro’s shoulders relaxed as he approached the cuban boy.

“Were you born human?”

“No.”

And just like that, the room froze.

“...W-What..?”

“Were you sent from Zarkon?”

“No.”

Shiro visibly relaxed a bit.

“What… are you..?”

“I am a siren. My family is a clan of sirens and we live on the beaches of Cuba.”

“..A siren…? What is that…?”

“A siren is an underwater creature similar to merpeople. In the past, sirens would lure sailors into jumping off of their boats and into the sea. Sirens used to eat humans, but now most siren pods are vegetarian. Although, some pods kill sailors that venture too close to their homes.”

“Do you do that…?”

“Yes.”

“Hooooooooooly-”

“Pidge. Language.”

“- _QUIZNACK._ ”

Pidge smirked and Shiro groaned.

“Pidgeon, you have a dirty mouth for a 2 grader.”

“Yep…. That’s Lance...”

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the ubrupt ending... I was losing inspiration and wanted to get this out. I might revisit it later tho!  
> The song that Lance is singing is called "Girl from the City, Pt. 2"  
> https://youtu.be/1_jS3Ln0wUc


End file.
